Many a skier remembers the same unpleasant experience: You stumble out of a mountain chalet or little restaurant after warming up with a nice mug of tea or mulled wine, still feeling happy and basking in a warm glow, ready to tackle another exciting slope - but what the hell happened to the skiing gear?

A frantic search in the failing daylight amounts to nothing, skis or snowboard have vanished.

It remains unclear how many skis go AWOL or were actually stolen. Some experts estimated that about one third of all lost gear can be traced back to those skiers who had the odd mulled wine or schnapps tea too many.

Drunk skiers either simply take the wrong pair of skis, mix up skis or just can't remember where they put them and report them stolen, say police.

There are however some easy options to prevent that long, cold walk downhill.

Marking skis individually with your name, changing some markings or even a few visible scratches are simple but effective ways of discouraging thieves.

When stopping for some well-earned rest, skis should be stored separately from each other, as thieves often won't have the time to search for a matching pair, experts said.

But all those options ward against the drunk guy at the table next to you, who just doesn't care or can't remember. Locking your gear up with bicycle or ski locks goes a long way.

Hotel ski storage facilities should be locked, with access only by using a room key or key cards or codes plus added video surveillance being smart options, as a recent series of well-organized hotel break-ins showed.

Professionally organized gangs who raid storage facilities, parking lots, lift stations and hotels or vanish with their rental skis are an increasingly common occurrence, security experts say.

Skiers should not forget to lock the ski boxes on top of their cars, as unlocked boxes were an easy target, police warned.

Unfortunately the option of equipping ski gear with detection chips is far off as it is still too expensive.

Ski-IDs, issued by the seller including all product data when buying gear, might help owners to give correct information about the lost gear.

The usual description, along the lines of: "Well, about my height, red with a black pattern ... I think," is of little help to even the most dedicated of police officers. Many ex-ski owners don't even know the brand of their lost gear, police officers complained.

If the damage was done despite taking every possible precaution, experts advise reporting each theft to the police, even if only between 2 and 5% are solved, you may get lucky and it helps to establish trends and precautionary measures for the future.

Skiers should be aware that skis or snowboards are generally not covered by insurances if they are just ditched in front of a welcoming chalet or bar, insurers warned.

When buying new gear, sports stores often offer insurance that covers most instances of theft or damage, but experts advise taking the precautionary measures mentioned above and reading the small print carefully, as insurances won't pay if thieves had it too easy.

Insurance fraud is another issue of rising concern as cashing in on the insurance for allegedly stolen gear is a simple way of making good on some of the money spent on the skiing holiday.

Insurers believe that a "significant number" of reported thefts are attempts at fraud, but are loath to give exact numbers, fearing "success rates" might encourage even more copycat fraudsters.
[Copyright dpa 2008]